Car Craze

Volvo was a company that manufactured and marketed bearings for the automotive industry which was idle for sometime and reactivated as a company that produced Volvo cars. The name Volvo was chosen because of its ingenious simplicity and ease of pronunciation in most places around the world with a minimal risk of spelling errors. The word also has an immensely strong symbolic connection to the company’s entire operation.

The simple English translation of Volvo would be “I roll” or a word that describes a rotating movement as the company’s operation included almost “everything that rolls: such as ball bearings, automobiles, transmissions, transport devices and others. Volvo adopted the ancient chemical symbol for iron – a circle with an arrow pointing diagonally upwards to the right, as its logo type. Long been the symbol of the iron industry, it took up the symbolism and created association with the honored tradition of the Swedish iron industry.

While developing a list of prospective names for a new luxury brand, Toyota’s long-time advertising agency came up with a shortlist wherein “Alexis” became the front runner due to the name’s association with a character in the popular primetime drama series – Dynasty. It eventually morphed to “Lexus’ which is said to be a combination of the word’s “luxury and elegance”. Toyota’s official version however, is that the name has no specific meaning and is just meant to be pleasing and easy to remember.

The original Lexus slogan was to refer to the relentless pursuit of excellence by Lexus designers. A stylized “L” within an oval became the final logo design which was rendered using a precise mathematical formula. The flagship vehicle has a unique design which shared no major elements with previous Toyota vehicles.

Toyoda Automatic Loom Works created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles in 1933 under the direction of the founder’s son, Kiichiro Toyoda. The younger Toyoda traveled extensively to Europe and the United States to look into automobile production and gasoline-powered engines. The Japanese government encouraged the company into this new venture to fill the void existing in domestic vehicle production.

This division eventually became an independent and separate company in 1937 using the name Toyota Motor Company. The use of Toyota instead of Toyoda was intended to signify the separation of the founders’ work life from home life as well as to simplify pronunciation and provide a happy beginning for the newly established company. Luck was also considered as it takes eight strokes to write Toyota in Katakana, a number which is regarded as lucky in Japan.

Traveling from his home in Nice, France, to purchase a car from the Daimler factory in Cannstatt, Germany, an Austrian businessman brought a sporting Daimler Phoenix and entered it into a local touring competition under the name of “Mercedes”. This specific car named after his then favorite 9-year old daughter caused such a sensation that he quickly realized its business potential.

Aside from placing an order for 36 more, he secured the franchise to sell them in different countries. Gottlieb Daimler, the car manufacturer, agreed to have them sold under the name “Mercedes”. On another part of Germany, another pioneer in the automotive industry, Karl Benz simply enclosed his name in a cogwheel which later became a laurel wreath. The merger of the Daimler and Benz companies resulted to the combination of the laurel wreath and the 3-pointed star trademark of Daimler and the car that has withstood the test of time – the Mercedes Benz.

Automobiles have created one of the largest industries in the U.S. and other countries. For many, the automobile manufacturing industry represents a large, important part of the economy. Other industries likewise grew since car production entails a large demand for steel, iron, lead, aluminum, copper, glass, chromium, rubber, cotton, plastic, machines and many other products.

Automobile manufacturing developed using standard interchangeable parts put together by unskilled workers on an assembly line, very much similar to that set by Henry Ford and Ransom Eli Olds in their respective manufacturing companies. These practices are very common in the industry although almost unheard of before the introduction of automobiles.

A significant portion of a vehicle’s emission occurs immediately after start-up when the catalytic converter is not yet warmed up to its proper operating temperature. A new software that is used to control the start-up sequence and minimize engine-out emissions during this period seeks to address this problem. This is otherwise known as variable valve timing or VVT which is the computerized control of the engine’s intake and exhaust valves to manage emissions during the vehicle’s cold start routine.

In the process, the opening of the intake valve is delayed thereby improving the air/fuel mixture which enhances stability during combustion. When the combustion process is run very late, fuel is burned up on the cylinder wall and reduces HC and NOx emissions. As the exhaust valve opening is delayed, the hydrocarbon-rich exhaust gas residual is brought back into the cylinder which further reduces HC emissions.

Automobile use is credited or blamed, depending on who is doing the talking, for many changes that the world has witnessed. Cars presented a most viable alternate to railroads and riverboats which forced a traveler to accommodate himself/herself to inflexible schedules. They provided a way for people to travel where and when they wanted. Transportation by automobile is fast especially when compared to old horse-drawn vehicles. With automobiles, came mobility. People who used to see a 20-mile travel a tedious prospect thought nothing of driving 2,000 miles for a vacation.

Cars, or at least the use of it, encouraged changes in social customs. People can go far a field for entertainment, recreation or dining. The proliferation of cars initiated the greatest road building programs since the Roman days. Smooth, paved roads were needed to ensure safe and fast travel.

The basic operations involved in driving a car consists of getting the car under way, driving a straight course, turning, stopping, backing, driving in the correct lane and parking. Driving is a valuable skill that requires judgment, alertness and the ability to cope with dangerous situations quickly. The maneuvers required in driving a car are relatively easy to handle but executing them smoothly and safely under all types of traffic, road and weather conditions is an all together different matter.

The importance of safe and skillful driving cannot be overemphasized as thousands of drivers, passengers and pedestrians lose their lives in traffic accidents every year. Automobile accidents are also to blame for substantial property damages. A learner can be taught by experienced drivers, preferably qualified driver education instructors.

Many of the vehicles sold today either meet or are cleaner than federal low-emission vehicle standards. Automakers have managed to cut pollution in part by simply continually improving their skills in designing emission control. Car pollution remains a challenge as automotive engineers find ways to achieve refinement of emission reduction technique while industry leaders invent new technologies to create cleaner gasoline-powered cars.

The mixture of air and gasoline that is rapidly burned inside an engine’s cylinder is where exhaust pollution originates. If fuel is perfectly burned, the only by-products would be water vapor and carbon dioxide. In reality however, combustion is never perfect thus harmful pollutants such as unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide are created.

Automobile modifying is defined as the individual alteration of a factory model automobile to change its appearance or to improve its performance. Modifications that change appearance are referred to as customizing while modifications to improve performance and speed or speed alone is called hot rodding.

Car owners may choose to modify their cars to suit personal preferences that cannot be attained when purchasing one. It can be viewed as an expression of an owner’s individuality, a creative work of art or simply the desire to have a faster car with optimum engine performance. Next to a home, a car is something that can be personalized and made unique especially since cars have become an integral part of everyday life that it can be a representation of who we are.

Please support Ophir’s clifinar page as part of the clifinar contest!